The Neighborhood Tasted Good

If you were not at the Taste the Neighborhood on Tuesday, February 22nd, you missed out on some wonderful food and festivities. For the third year in a row, 20 local restaurants donated food or beverages to this fundraising event for Northeast Shores. Northeast Shores would like to thank the following restaurants for their generosity, Beachland Tavern, Bistro 185, Blitz Barbecue, Boardwalk Tavern, B & M Bar B Que, Café @ Arts Collinwood, Café Corso, Chili Peppers, Congin’s Pizza, Convenient on 200th St., Dave’s Supermarket, Fresh Catch, Giorgio’s Oven Fresh Pizza, Gostilna at Knezak, Grovewood Tavern, Gus’s Diner, Lithuanian Hall, Lucky’s Restaurant, Muldoon’s Saloon & Eatery and Scotti’s Restaurant. These restaurants all donated their food and time to this event to make this our best ever Taste the Neighborhood Award Ceremony.

For the first time in the three years that we have been hosting this event, we had a record, sold out crowd. Board Member Cindy Barber and Councilman Polensek were overheard saying “What a wonderful event the Taste the Neighborhood is because it brings the community together”. We had merchants, restaurant owners and residents all coming together to celebrate our accomplishments.

This year for the first time, we had a female North Collinwood Hall of Fame winner - Jan Dean. Jan has given many hours of herself volunteering for various organizations from the Auxiliary Police to the Senior Advisory Council. Jan was also a founding member of the 5th District Police Community Relations Board. Jan was appointed to the Community Relations Board by then Mayor George Voinovich. Jan has been a Member of City Club since 1995. Jan commented that “she does not volunteer her time to be awarded for it. She volunteers because it is for the good of the community to do so”.

We also honored the Hospice of the Western Reserve with the Investment of the Year Award for their purchase of the Christian Life Center. By purchasing the Christian Life Center, Hospice showed their support and commitment to this area.

Blue Arrow Records owners Pete and Debbie Gulyas were given the Business of the Year Award. Pete and Debbie own and operate three different businesses on Waterloo including Blue Arrow Records and Blue Arrow Boutique. In addition, Debbie formed the Waterloo Alley Cats Project to help the feral cat population in the Waterloo area. If you would like to help Debbie provide food and medical care for the feral cats in the Waterloo Business District, you can make donations to the Waterloo Alley Cats via Northeast Shores.

Block Club of the Year went to the Windward Block Club. Pete and Karen Wolfgram along with the Windward Block Club adopted planter boxes on East 185th St. they are a close group who really look out for each other. Pete and Karen show their commitment to their neighborhood by being long time members of Northeast Shores. Pete is also on the Safety Committee of Northeast Shores.

For our listening pleasure, we had music provided by One fun Dj and entertainment by Deep 3.

A Chinese Auction finished off the night. We had over 30 baskets donated to Northeast Shores for us to raffle off. Our guests went home with some really nice baskets that were donated by residents, businesses and board members. A fun night was had by all who attended.